5 Ways Beauty and Cosmetic Brands Can Thrive in China Internet

Cosmetic Brands in China – almost everything else is done online these days. Live streaming e-commerce, WeChat mini-programs, and group buying models are offering opportunities to brands to step-up online marketing activities.

Brands can sell right off the bat as live streaming e-commerce platforms like Taobao Live, which is also featuring celebrities and influencers endorsing products.

That’s one of the few ways to thrive online, below we have listed options for beauty and cosmetic brands in China to explore to engage with consumers in real-time.

Beauty services on WeChat mini-programs powered by AI + AR

Perfect Corp., the AI + AR beauty tech company and developer that’s behind YouCam Makeup, released three digital beauty solutions that work in WeChat mini-programs. Consumers enjoy virtual experiences like trying some make-up in mobile devices. 

The beauty solutions added in mini-programs help brands to deliver a personalized online shopping experience and stay connected virtually.  

• AI Smart Share Finder mini-program —  helps consumers find the perfect foundation shade. It can detect nearlty 90,000 types of skin tones.
• AI Skin Diagnostic mini-program —  provides instant analysis of the skin’s wrinkles, spots, texture, and more.
• AI virtual makeup try-on mini-program —  offers a virtual experience to try different lipstick shades, eyeshadows, and eyeliners. 

In short, the use of AI (artificial intelligence) and deep learning in these mini-programs help brands to stay engaged virtually and at the same time sell products in a creative, entertaining way. 

Cosmetic Brands China: Use Livestream selling and virtual shopping

The e-commerce sector in China has transformed tremendously for many years. It’s now heavily connected to other social media platforms and innovative solutions like mini-programs and live streaming. From retailers to influencers and celebrities, they can connect with consumers live via broadcasting videos.

Livestream e-commerce, if done right, can sell items instantly. According to iResearch, China will have 524 million live stream users by the end of 2020. Here’s how sellers and retailers enhance virtual shopping. 

• Unboxing the product — broadcasting live demos about a skincare product or item and sharing their experiences and reviews. 
• Flash deals — the broadcaster offers huge discounts on items for a limited time only. It encourages viewers to buy in bulk and also take advantage of the coupons and other deals as they stay tuned. 
• Group buying and other call-to-actions — broadcasters offer huge discounts for those who buy in bulk and with friends. They also call-to-actions to viewers like sharing links, commenting, and inviting friends and family to view the channel to get something in return.

Livestream e-commerce isn’t fit for all sectors, but for beauty and cosmetics, it’s one of the best ways to start selling with aggressiveness. However, brands must be quick enough to adapt and think of other ways to sell because retaining customer loyalty is a challenge in this type of platform. People get bored easily and will likely hop in from one brand to another.

WeChat as a community platform to multiply sales

Perfect Diary is a local cosmetic brand that uses WeChat’s features to create a community and nurture them. It’s present everywhere and stays connected to the community. One of its successes is the way it handled WeChat marketing with its community management.

It multiplied its sales organically by using its Official Account and set up a good customer relationship management tool. They have an active brand representative who’s in-charge of chatting with their followers. They also used group chats where administrators and assistants share discounts and articles. 

Private groups are set up temporarily to provide limited sell/offer via mini-program. The community will watch out for the live streaming event to catch the deals and discounts. The private group will also be disbanded afterward.

Distribute through group buying platform like Pinduoduo

Another way to sell beauty and cosmetic brands is the use of group buying platforms like Pinduoduo. It’s a social e-commerce platform where shoppers invite friends and family to shop on items so they can enjoy and share the deals and discounts.

Pinduoduo also has live streaming features to help brands showcase their products in real-time, offering flash deals, games, and affiliate features to encourage shoppers to stay engaged during the buying process. 

For brands who want to use this platform, they enjoy zero commission feed and have easy and fast registration. Although a deposit between 10,000 to 50,000 RMB is required to set up an account. But the integrated marketing and store management tools help brands in collecting data about consumer shopping habits and to make sure they work efficiently. 

It’s an opportunity for foreign brands to get started, especially distributors and small and medium brands that find it hard to enter the China market since the restrictions are quite lenient for foreign brands. 

Short video apps for online visibility and exposure

Last but not least, short video apps like Douyin are one of the best ways to share and promote items online. As of this writing, there are around 1.2 billion daily video views in this app according to Ocean Insights report. The beauty content video also increased by 228%, whereas international brands make up 48% of the video view market share. 

Beauty and cosmetic brands can take advantage of the short video clips that can go viral as consumers stay engaged with the posts. 

Douyin has e-commerce features like a link that prompts viewers to shop while viewing videos. According to the same report, 32% of those who view videos have clicked in an e-commerce link.

Indeed, Douyin is now becoming a must-have social media channel aside from WeChat and Red Little Book for beauty cosmetics. 

If you need help in getting started to enhance your cosmetic brand and introduce it to the Chinese market, feel free to message us.